Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
JMIR is the Journal of Medical Internet Research, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal on digital health, health informatics and health services, published by JMIR Publications since 1999. This guide records what the journal says about itself on its own pages, checked on 2026-10-29: scope, indexing, metrics and the article processing fee. Metrics and fees change every year, so each figure below is dated and attributed.
What JMIR is
JMIR is the common short name for the Journal of Medical Internet Research (ISSN 1438-8871). Its Focus and Scope page describes it as “a leading eHealth, health informatics, and health services journal”, launched in 1999, and states that it was the first open-access journal covering health informatics topics and research. Those are the journal’s own descriptions, not independent rankings. The same publisher runs a family of related titles, so “JMIR” can mean the flagship journal or any of its sister journals; this page covers the flagship.
Who publishes it and what it covers
The publisher is JMIR Publications. According to the journal’s scope statement, the focus is work at the intersection of the internet or digital enablement and health. Topic areas the journal lists as in scope include:
- Internet-connected or internet-enabled health technologies, such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring, digital health device interventions and digital therapeutics
- Connected health data and digital information synthesis, flow and communication
- AI applications, including large language models, in internet-enabled health research
- Ethical, legal, social and regulatory dimensions of digital connectivity in health
- Digital science and internet-enabled research methods and data, including open-source tools and open data
- Digitally enabled patient care and real-world outcomes research
- Emerging technologies using internet or digital connectivity
For background on the wider field the journal sits in, see the CASRAI guide to health informatics.
Where to find the journal’s information pages
The journal website at jmir.org lists, under “About the Journal”, Focus and Scope, Editorial Board, Publication Frequency, About the Publisher, Article Processing Fees, and Indexing and Impact Factor. Under “Author Information” it lists Instructions for Authors, Submissions, Peer Review Process, Publication Ethics and Malpractice, and Author Self-Archiving. The three pages cited in this guide are the Focus and Scope, Indexing and Impact Factor, and Article Processing Fees pages.
Indexing, metrics and fees (as stated by the journal, 2026-10-29)
Journal metrics are year-specific, and third-party listings often disagree with each other because they quote different years, different sources or estimates. The table below therefore reproduces only what JMIR’s own Indexing and Impact Factor page and Article Processing Fees page state, with the year each figure carries. The impact factor itself is calculated by Clarivate; the JMIR page does not name its source for the number, so recheck it in the original database before citing it formally (see how the journal impact factor is calculated).
| Item | What JMIR states | Year or condition |
|---|---|---|
| Impact factor | 8.2 (5-year impact factor 8.1) | “2025 Impact Factor” |
| Category rank, Healthcare Sciences & Services | Q1, 96th percentile, rank 8/194 | As shown on the page |
| Category rank, Medical Informatics | Q1, 94th percentile, rank 4/54 | As shown on the page |
| Scopus CiteScore | 10.4; Q1, 87th percentile (22/168) in Health Informatics | 2025 |
| Article processing fee | US$3,350, payable upon acceptance | Current fee schedule |
| Viewpoints | US$2,680 | Modified fee, payable upon acceptance |
| Research Letters | US$1,675 | Modified fee, payable upon acceptance |
Indexing claimed by the journal
JMIR states that it is indexed in more than 18 bibliographic databases and abstracting services, including MEDLINE, PubMed, PMC, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ Seal), CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded, PsycINFO and INSPEC. This is the journal’s own list. The authoritative record for each is the indexer’s own: the NLM Catalog for MEDLINE/PubMed/PMC, the DOAJ directory, and Scopus’s source list. The journal’s indexing page links the NLM Catalog entry for the journal. For what each of these indexes does and does not signify, see journal indexing: DOAJ, Scopus and Web of Science. One related point: PubMed does not report a journal impact factor, so the 8.2 figure has to come from the journal or from Clarivate’s own tools.
Fees
The fee page lists a single flagship fee of US$3,350 “payable upon acceptance”, with lower modified fees for Viewpoints and Research Letters. The page does not state a submission fee for the flagship journal. It does not describe licence terms, and it lists no waivers for this journal, so this guide does not either; check the journal’s author pages for those before submitting.
JMIR versus its sister journals
A frequent source of confusion is that fees, scope and metrics differ across the JMIR Publications family. The same fee page lists separate processing fees for the sister titles, for example:
| Journal (JMIR Publications) | Article processing fee stated | Viewpoints / Research Letter |
|---|---|---|
| Journal of Medical Internet Research | US$3,350 | US$2,680 / US$1,675 |
| JMIR Aging | US$2,500 | US$2,000 / US$1,250 |
| JMIR AI | US$1,985 | US$1,588 / US$1,000 |
| JMIR Cancer | US$1,985 | US$1,588 / US$1,000 |
| JMIR Data | US$1,500 | Not listed on the fee page |
Quoting “the JMIR impact factor” or “the JMIR fee” without naming the title is therefore ambiguous. Always cite the specific journal and the year.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- A dated, publisher-stated Q1 position in both Healthcare Sciences & Services and Medical Informatics, and in Scopus Health Informatics.
- A broad indexing list that includes MEDLINE, PubMed and PMC, so articles are findable through the main biomedical search tools.
- A scope statement that explicitly lists AI, telehealth, digital therapeutics and open research methods, and a transparent public fee schedule.
- Open-access publishing: the journal describes itself as the first open-access journal covering health informatics topics and research.
Limits
- The flagship’s US$3,350 fee is payable on acceptance, which is a real cost for authors without institutional funding; the fee page states no waiver terms for this journal.
- Metrics are year-specific and are the journal’s own presentation; they are not a measure of any individual article.
- The scope is deliberately tied to digital and internet-enabled health. Work without that link falls outside it.
- Indexing status can change; confirm it in the indexer’s own record rather than relying on any journal’s summary.
For authors reporting web-based surveys, read more in the CASRAI guide to the CHERRIES checklist, a reporting guideline first published in JMIR in 2004 (Eysenbach, J Med Internet Res 2004;6(3):e34).
Alternatives
Within the same publisher the closest alternatives are the sister journals in the fee table above, which cover narrower areas (for example JMIR AI, JMIR Cancer or JMIR Aging) at lower stated processing fees. The CASRAI guide to journal indexing explains how to compare other journals on indexing. Compare any other health informatics title using the same three primary sources: its own scope page, the indexer’s record, and its own fee schedule.
FAQ
What does JMIR stand for?
JMIR stands for the Journal of Medical Internet Research, published by JMIR Publications. The name is also used for the publisher’s family of sister journals.
Is JMIR open access?
Yes. The journal’s Focus and Scope page describes JMIR as launched in 1999 as the first open-access journal covering health informatics topics and research,.
What is the JMIR impact factor?
JMIR’s own Indexing and Impact Factor page, checked 2026-10-29, shows a 2025 impact factor of 8.2 and a 5-year impact factor of 8.1. Impact factors change annually, so use the figure for the year you need.
Is JMIR indexed in MEDLINE and PubMed?
The journal states it is indexed in MEDLINE, PubMed and PMC, among more than 18 databases, and links the NLM Catalog entry. The NLM Catalog is the authoritative record.
How much does it cost to publish in JMIR?
The journal’s fee page lists an article processing fee of US$3,350 for the flagship journal, payable upon acceptance, with US$2,680 for Viewpoints and US$1,675 for Research Letters. Sister journals list different fees.
Sources
- JMIR, “Focus and Scope”: https://www.jmir.org/about-journal/focus-and-scope (checked 2026-10-29)
- JMIR, “Indexing and Impact Factor”: https://www.jmir.org/about-journal/indexing-and-impact-factor (checked 2026-10-29)
- JMIR, “Article Processing Fees”: https://www.jmir.org/about-journal/article-processing-fees (checked 2026-10-29)
- Eysenbach G, “Improving the Quality of Web Surveys: The Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES)”, J Med Internet Res 2004;6(3):e34: https://www.jmir.org/2004/3/e34 (checked 2026-10-29)
